This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Utahns are in favor of police having access to military weapons, according to a new UtahPolicy.com poll, but they are split on whether police agencies in general have become more militarized.
According to the poll, 21 percent of the 406 people surveyed said they "strongly support" police departments having military equipment, and 35 percent said they "somewhat support" it.
Twelve percent said they were neutral on the issue, while 17 percent said they "somewhat oppose" the idea and 14 percent "strongly oppose" police having military-style weapons.
In the same poll, the respondents were split on whether they thought police agencies were becoming too militarized. Forty-one percent said they either "strongly agree" or "somewhat agree" that police departments were becoming too militarized, while the same percent of people said they "strongly disagree" or "somewhat disagree." The remaining respondents said they were neutral on the issue or they didn't know.
UtahPolicy.com's website says the survey was conducted on Aug. 26-28 by Dan Jones & Associates, and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.
The same people surveyed also were asked questions about whether they thought police should wear body cameras. Earlier this week, UtahPolicy released those numbers, which indicated that more than 80 percent of those surveyed believe officers should wear body cameras while on the job.
More than a week ago, President Barack Obama ordered a review of federal programs that supplied nearly half a billion dollars in military equipment to municipal police departments last year. Obama's remarks came amid criticism of the heavily armed response by local law enforcement agencies to protests in Ferguson, Missouri.
The review will likely include the Defense Department's Excess Property program — also called the 1033 Program — which is designed to give away tents, generators, pickup trucks and all-terrain vehicles, as well as military aircraft, grenade launchers and heavily armed tactical vehicles. That program has distributed $4.3 billion worth of equipment to police agencies since 1997, according to its website.
Members of Congress, civil rights groups and news media pundits have been critical of the heavy militarization of police departments in Ferguson and others across the country.
During the nearly two weeks of nightly protests in the St. Louis suburb after an unarmed teenager was shot and killed by a Ferguson officer Aug. 9, police dressed in riot gear employed armored vehicles, noise-based crowd-control devices, shotguns, M4 rifles like those used by forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, rubber-coated metal pellets and tear gas.
According to an April 2013 audit, Utah police possessed $2.8 million of weapons and other military gear received through the 1033 Program. No documentation is available that says whether anyone in Utah has been injured with weapons obtained from the military.
Congress started the program in 1996 to send military surplus gear to local police. Though Utah police agencies have received heavy equipment such as mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles and rifles, Department of Defense records show agencies have also received emergency blankets, medical gear, camera equipment, pliers and other hardware-type merchandise.
Sixty-two local police forces in Utah, as well as three statewide agencies, are signed up to receive equipment through the 1033 Program, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Twitter: @jm_miller